Published November 14, 2022 8:00am EST
Journalist taunted for warning Elon Musk against offending Senate Democrats: ‘Spoken like a true servant’
Musk gave a sarcastic response to Sen. Ed Markey's, D-Mass., complaint about new verified accounts on Twitter
By Alexander Hall | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/media/journalist...t?intcmp=tw_fnc


Elon Musk's bumpy landing at Twitter

Politico White House editor and MSNBC contributor Sam Stein was slammed on Twitter after he appeared to warn Elon Musk against criticizing powerful Democratic politicians.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., posted an official Senate letter addressed to Twitter CEO Musk complaining that a Washington Post reporter had been able to create a verified account impersonating him. He tweeted, "I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation. Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again."

Musk offered a sarcastic response, "Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?"

Musk responded to one user who had suggested he was taking a major risk by poking fun at a Democrat who that may crack down on Twitter, causing Musk to reply, "Are you suggesting the Senator will abuse his political power to attack me?"-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Congress, Free Speech, Media November 14, 2022
“Always Risky to Attack Members of Congress”: Reporter Warns Musk Not to Run Afoul of Democratic Members
https://jonathanturley.org/2022/11/14/al...cratic-members/


Twitter LogoIn a stark warning from a reporter, Politico’s Sam Stein weighed into a dispute over the verification of a fake account for Senator Ed Markey (D., Mass.), who has demanded answers from Elon Musk. Liberals are using the such verification problems to attack Musk for threatening to restore free speech protections to Twitter. When Musk mocked Markey’s letter, Stein ominously warned that it is “[a]lways risky to attack members of congress. Especially risky with Dems assured of Senate power. Curious play by Musk here. He has many interests before Congress.” For many of us, it was a chilling message coming from a reporter that you would be wise not to risk the ire of powerful politicians.

Markey himself made no effort to hide the opportunistic use of the verification error to pressure Musk not to reduce Twitter’s massive censorship program. He declared

“I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation. Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”

The use of “debt” to describe the obligation to censor is fascinating in this context. Many of us have long criticized the alliance of Twitter censors with Democratic members and groups. Recently, evidence emerged of back channels between government officials with social media companies. The allegations raise the concern over what I have called censorship by surrogate.

In one telling hearing, tech CEOs appeared before the Senate to discuss censorship programs. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized for censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story, but then pledged to censor more people in defense of “electoral integrity.”

Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, however, was not happy. He was upset not by the promised censorship but that it was not broad enough.

He noted that it was hard to define the problem of “misleading information,” but the companies had to impose a sweeping system to combat the “harm” of misinformation on climate change as well as other areas. “The pandemic and misinformation about COVID-19, manipulated media also cause harm,” Coons said. “But I’d urge you to reconsider that because helping to disseminate climate denialism, in my view, further facilitates and accelerates one of the greatest existential threats to our world.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal also warned that he and his colleagues would not tolerate any “backsliding or retrenching” by “failing to take action against dangerous disinformation.” He demanded “the same kind of robust content modification” from the companies – the new Orwellian term for censorship.

Others have sought even more “robust” action. For years, Democratic leaders, including President Joe Biden, have called for corporate censorship on a variety of subjects.-- excerpt, rest at link above --